Kutha meat is defined as "meat of animal or fowl slaughtered slowly as prescribed by Islamic law.". It has been more broadly defined as "killing an animal with a prayer" or "a sacrifice to God" or meat prepared through "unnecessary ritualism".

There are two views on Kutha meat (see below), the Sikh view, which sees Kutha as that which has been "sacrificed", and the Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 view which views Kutha as a means of repression, and a non-Hindu Aryan method of slaughter.

Kutha and Sikhism

Eating Kutha Meat for a Baptised Sikh is considered to be one of the 4 Cardinal Sins. These 4 sins are part of the Sikh Code of Conduct (Rehit Maryada). In the Rehit Marayada Section Six, it states: The undermentioned four transgressions (tabooed practices) must be avoided:

1. Dishonouring the hair;
2. Eating the meat of an animal slaughtered the Muslim way (Kutha);
3. Cohabiting with a person other than one's spouse;
4. Using tobacco.

The reason for Sikhs avoiding Kutha "does not lie in religious tenet but in the view that killing an animal with a prayer is not going to enoble the flesh." There is another view that Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Gobind Singh is the tenth and last Sikh guru in a sacred lineage of ten Sikh gurus. Born in Patna, Bihar in India, he was also a warrior, poet and philosopher. He succeeded his father Guru Tegh Bahadur as the leader of Sikhs at a young age of nine...

 (the tenth Sikh Guru), instructed his Sikhs not to eat Kutha meat, in order to boycott the Moghul Empire.

Kutha and Hinduism

During Mughal times Hindus viewed Kutha as creating "spiritual weakness among Hindus" . Also according to Mughal Law of the time, "Hindus were neither permitted to keep weapons at home nor allowed to cook and eat any form of meat". As a result of this many Hindus too will not eat "Kutha". In addition to this according "to the ancient Aryan Hindu tradition, only such meat as is obtained from an animal which is killed with one stroke of the weapon causing instantaneous death is fit for human consumption"

Jhatka

The prescribed method of slaughter for animals for Sikhs and Hindus is Jhatka

Jhatka

Jhatka or Chatka meat is meat from an animal which has been killed by a single strike of a sword or axe to sever the head, as opposed to Jewish slaughter or Islamic slaughter in which the animal is killed by ritually slicing the throat.-Jhatka meat and Sikhs:Jhatka for Sikhs is the...

, which is seen as the opposite to Kutha.

External links

• Fools Who Wrangle Over Flesh
• Adobe Version of Fools Who Wrangle Over Flesh
• Professor Gurbax Singh Dhillon - Meat Eating and Rehat Maryada
• Video Showing Jhatka at Hazoor Sahib
• The Myth of Goat Sacrifice and Hazoor Sahib
• Tenets of Guru Gobind Singh by Baldev Singh
• Can Sikhs Eat Meat
• Sikh History on Diet
• Sikh Scholar Views on Diet